Improvement in underwaists



EMELINE W. PHLLBRooK.

No. 175,154. Patented March 21, 1876.

a l 2 a I. lll Il .lll

I I n NFETEHS, PNDTO-UTHOGHAPMER, WASHINGTON. D C.

-b are the sleeves, and c the arm-sizes.

UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMELINE W. PHILBROOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN UNDERWAISTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 75,154, dated March 21, 1876 application filed August 9, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMELINE W. PHIL- BROOK, of Boston, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Girls Underwaists, of which the following is a specification: l I

'I shall first describe the construction of my improved underwaist, and will then state the advantages gained by said construction.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a front view of a girls underwaist embodying my invention and Fig/2 is a rear view of the saine.

Similar letters of reference indicate ,corresponding parts.

a represents a full front, which may be omitted or not, according to the age of the wearer. When omitted the front will be made plain. These sleeves b are out so as to be much nearer each other than is usual. They are `also made wide enough to cover all parts of the shoulders, so that the strain from the supported garments may be distributed over the shoulders, and not concentrated at one point. d and c are buttons supporting the skirt and drawers, and are not exclusively my invention. j' is a gored seam, extending to the arm-size cbehind, and to the fullness a in front. In case the fullness is omitted the seam f extends in front to the arm-size, in the direction indicated by the broken lines in Fig. l. g g are buttons, placed at the lower end of the garment, from which depend the stocking-A supporters. Each button has an independent supporter.

It has long been the belief of our best physicians, and others capable of j udging, that the support of undcrclothing should be mainly at the shoulders. In accordance with this theory many forms, of support have been adopted without perfect success. There has been no proper relation between the shoulder-strap and the cut of the waist, to keep them in place,

nor regard to their width or lit upon the shoul-V ders. There have also been great defects in the cut of waist, so far as it might apply to the form 0I" the chest at dii'erent ages of girls and also in the attachment of the lower straps and ties. Most generally such straps have been attached to that part of the same Where the belt is generally used, or where the waist is situated, which is much too high for an equalized support, and in all cases the supporting-straps are fastened to the sides of the body or hips, usually with only aisingle support at each side, which principle is 'very injurious. My own invention is made to cover the above defects. In the arrangement of the shoulder-strap l have so made it that while it is sufficiently Wide to Inake an easy bearingit is, by the cut of the waist, as before named, kept in its proper place, always resting upon the shoulder, instead of sometimes slipping about the arm, or twisting up and cutting the shoulder. 1 have so cut the Whole waist, as shown, that when sewcd up, as indicated by the seam, it not only protects the chest from injury at one period of growth, but so slopes the lower part of the waist-that is, that between the hips, which may be called `the subwaist-that it stands off from the stomach, instead of against the same, without in any sense acting like a corset, and at the same time forming a support for the braces below, which is agreeable and comfortable. I then attach to the bottom of this skirt of the waist the fourstraps, two in front and .two on the back, the effect of which is to hold up all that is attached below without friction or confinement in the motion ofthe wearer. This waist is not in any sense tightly clasped, nor does it in other respects resemble a corset.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a girls underwaist, the combination of the wide shoulder-straps of the waist-body prolonged to cover the body below the belt, and cut and seamed in the manner shown and described, to keep the straps on the shoulders with an easy uniform bearing, and to protect and favor the chest and the body below the` belt, said underwaist being provided, at the points indicated, with means for the attachment of straps for supporting the underclothiug or stockings, as shown and lset forth.

EMELINE W. PHILBROOK.

Witnesses: HENRY W. WILLIAMS,

W. D. BROOKS. 

